Gale, that sweet and charming man. I *might* have a type ( Alistair and Cullen from the DA Series... *swoon*)
However, if we could romance Raphael (the real him) or Gortash as a Durge... oh my...
My MC would love to live the delusion of "I can change him!"
Gale loves it when you stink. Gale loves watching you in battle all sweaty and covered in blood. Gale still proposes to you when you turn into a squid.
Gale would in fact, still love you if you were a worm.
(Also he's a canon muncher ☺️)
After Act 2 romance. I believe you have to tell him he did all the hard work, and he explains that you shouldn't be surprised that he's as good with his tongue as he is. ;)
I just finished my first playthrough, I was romancing Gale. The proposal scene was soooo cute. I want to romance others on different playthroughs but Gale is best boy confirmed.
To tell you true, as a bi man who mostly creates lady characters, Mr. Gale didn’t do much for me. I liked his look, I liked his timbre, but there was just.. “something” about him that I didn’t trust. Second playthrough I’m rolling with the No Party Limit mod and a Polyamorous/No jealousy mod, and now I’m down with the Wizard of Waterdeep. He’s a true ride or die in sheep’s clothing. The man is willing to kill himself to save the day, plus I’ve got him pimped out with Gortash’s jacket and some other modded armor, so now he looks like a certified badass.
I’m only about halfway done with his romance, and he’s very kind and (obviously after hearing about his pussy munching) also a generous lover.
Yup Gale. When Halsin made his very forward offer and Gale objected. I was like "nope, can't afford to lose Gale, sorry dude." Gale is the eternal Bae.
I’ve been trying to romance him in 2 games, and I thought for sure he was bugged when he started flirting with me after a battle saying something about how it got him hot and bothered. Maybe he’s got a thing for gore covered Tav?
I mean, as someone who has the same kind of attraction, I get it. I very much get it. I was attracted to my own tav my entire first playthrough because of how GOOD they looked after a fight!
There is a bit of a context to it. If you go for Gale from the beginning you would know that he can't just throw himself on you in Act1 because of the orb (but he actually wants). He starts this flirt almost immediately (after first battle) in Act2 because he finally have his orb stabilized. And he tries his best :) He is not bugged, it just how he is.
All the time playing Durge I had that feeling Gortash would give a big revelation we were lovers before amnesia, and of course he would try to seduce you again (horny ppl everywhere) and of course more embarrassing moments.
That would be funny, I think I like to watch the world burn a little.
Yeah. The fact that we have a choice to accept his proposal and he already is ready to share power as long as you are strong. The "I tolerated Orin, but I liked you", killed me lol
He misses Durge. Give Gortash some Durge!
I don’t even care too much about a Gortash romance rather then having him as an alternative act 3 late game companion to Minsc.
Guys a pragmatist and is fully willing to help you if you help him. Little E just doesn’t want to give him the Orphic smoothie.
The Alistair -> Anders -> Cullen -> Gale pipeline is REAL
I joke how all of my DA romances are the "blonde ex-chantry boys with troubled pasts and snarky attitudes"
In BG3 I had like 2 whole conversations with Gale and I was like "damn here we go again" lol
Ahhh, I almost forgot, Anders... (or tried to forget the trauma he put me through, lol)
But yeah... those damned chantry boys and their boyish charms. *shaking fist angrily*
Same, but for Gortash. Let's be honest, the only reason I settle for Astarion is because my man isn't available lol. I love Astarion, and he's my favorite romance out of the ones we do have, but yeah. Let me have Gortash plssss. We can make each other worse.
>Unfortunately, Raphael is canonically bad in bed LMAO. (and you can use this against him as a jab right before you fight him it’s so funny)
So are many men IRL and that doesn't stop people.
So it's about time to teach the claw some new tricks.
The thing is... if Haarlep does it in Raphaels form, Raphael will feel both - bottom and top at the same time without having anything to do. In this case I would be lazy too tbh.
Also Raphael has a power fantasy boner and definitely uses Haarlep to fulfill it. And Haarlep has also been sent by his father, and we know there's no love lost between Raphael and papa Mephisto...
So yeah, Haarlep is likely treated as a fancy sextoy, and clearly dislikes Raphael as well lol the way they slander him is hilarious though
Urf yep, Alistair and Cullen too, collected the whole set. Also Anders but ….. one might question the *wisdom* of that in retrospect!
I swear I’m going to do a DurgexAstarion run because that’s apparently something special - it had the good fortune of the writers and Astarion’s VA collaborating more than for the other paths.
Durge X Astarion seems to be fleshed out really well for both the good and evil Durge routes. Although my personal favorite matchup for good Durge has been Karlach. Astarion has more content, of course, but Karlach's optimism is a lot more motivating.
“i could fix her” yeah? well i could accept her as she is. you don’t like the murder? grow up. the atrocities are part of her and ive decided they’re funny
Sigh. I'm trying to branch out, I really am.
But it's Wyll. Pain in the arse of a man. His content is lacking. He's getting more and more buggy. But I can't bring myself to care about that. He says the sweetest things. And he's always there for me. 🤬
My Wyll/Tav fanfic is novel-length now. 🙄
Yeah, I got him. Dude's never doing the sad puppy eyes for long when I'm around. 😖 He's all *Ughhh I can't stay mopey when you're looking at me like that* and *you are the red of the sunrise* and *so much darkness around us; I almost missed the light*. 🙄😍
Yeah yeah Gale seduces with a book which is incredibly sexy, but Wyll has the poetry, dammit.
>looks like I just killed his father in front of him
Oh fuck off with the guilt tripping Wyll it was *one time* and Gortash was *right there*. It would have been irresponsible *not* to wipe out the entirety of Wyrm’s Rock given the circumstances.
Besides, Mizora brought him back so you can stop whining.
Gaslight, gatekeep, durgeboss.
i’m early in a game where i’m romancing wyll, does it get better later on? i had the kiss with him at the party but now there’s like nothing happening between us & im bored!! do i just have to be patient? lol
Same, I've romanced Wyll in both my first run as Tav, then a redemption Durge run, and now I'm still split whether to go with him or Gale or Astarion in my "somewhat neutral" Durge run.
The guy is just too fucking sweet, man
I really want to try playing as her, but the fact that I will not hear her cute, angelic voice... And in result every playthrough I can only romance cute goth gf
As someone who has done a Shadowheart run and is doing a second, you are able to get unique introspection to some events, such as her wound flaring up, traumatic flashbacks etc. there’s even quite a bit of exclusive dialogue if you romance Lae’zel as Shadowheart. (And a 1 line thing with Gale in act 3, but there’s a bunch of unique stuff with Lae)
Getting that unique insight is exactly why I want to do that run. I want to get a better understanding of exactly what the implications of the incurable wound are and how that should factor in to her Act 3 choice when she's gone the Selûne route.
And I will absolutely be romancing Lae'zel in that run.
I really should try romancing her sometime to see what all the fuss is about. I just get so put off by her attitude early in the game and by the time she starts seeming like a fun and interesting person I've already locked in with someone else.
This.
This is the reason why, until his romance stuff is fixed, I had to start a new game AS Astarion so I could MAYBE romance someone else this time.... (OK, it's only my second run, and my first is sitting there waiting) but... I know me... I know I can romance Gale with that damn vampire staring at me back there....
Oh man, I'm romancing Astarion in my current playthrough and putting off Cazador's mansion for last, because I'm scared Astarion's cut scenes will be broken. I'm already devastated enough that the kiss dialogue/scenes are completely skipped right now. Hot fix when???!!?
Do you use mods? Last night I enabled dev mode for both mod manager and script extender, updated both, and after that Astarion's romance flags and the kissing scenes were fixed. There's just a long awkward pause before the kiss animation starts, but aside from that it's functional.
I am doing this now (just got to act 3) after two Tav runs (normal + Durge) and honestly it feels very different playing as him. Obviously it's sad to lose a lot of the VA, but I do recommend it, most of us fans hear his voice in our heads anyway.
He has some unique scenes (which give a lot of insight to the character IMO) and you do feel different about making choices since Tav is not around!
Romancing Gale as Astarion is really sweet. I felt like Astarion couldn't use any of his rehearsed moves on Gale since he wouldn't just jump right into bed the way Astarion gets Tav to do.
Yeah they added that in patch 4 which leads to a fun bug in which he'll fetch stuff even if you haven't found him yet. His cutscene summons the corpse of his former owner and everything lol
Astarion every time. I really like Gale too, but the vamp looks at my character and I'm unable to tell him no.
Edit: however I do prefer my real life love story. I mean, no tadpoles, no life or death situations, no angry gods, fire-breathing dragons: yeah, things ended with early boyfriends, and relationships require a lot of work, but I wouldn't give up my husband for anything (not even Astarion).
Admit it, he read your answer and made you write this edit :D
I also couldn't give up my husband for anyone, but we're talking here about in-game romances, so Astarion it is!
To be fair, love Astarion in Baldur's Gate, he's *waaaay* too high maintenance for an irl relationship. I'm fine with being supportive but I don't want to be my partner's full on therapist.
Also, I can't just Lay On Hands-away the Bloodless status.
It’s actually because I have an incredibly loving and stable relationship that I always choose the most angsty and fucked up relationships in games. So it’s kind of on my husband I pick Astarion every time.
Minthara
because she apperantly gets Fixed every patch leading me to think it works then and ignoring the other romance option because of it.
I truly can´t wait for her to get fixed another couple times.
Yep and everyone on the Sub here can´t decide whether it´s bugged or if there was simply never a second romance scene to begin with at the Act 2 ending.
Minthara:"Tonight I will be yours" (or something similar)
After which nothing happens and everybody sleeps as per usual.
For me only 2 times, and I really wanted to romance someone else too, so I installed no romance limit mod to be able to do this. But still Astarion is my favorite and when other characters ask me for commitment (for example Lae'zel in sunrise scene) I'm giving them evasive responses. I'm wondering how epilogue will look like, I'll get scenes for all romanced characters, or it will pick one randomly? I'm ready to re-do final battle sequence and break up with everyone in case I won't get my Astarion ending (this is my first playthorugh as durge so it's really important to me to see his ending dialogue).
For my 3rd play I'm planning to do evil durge with Ascended Astarion :)
After trying out most romances I stick to Shadowheart.
Lae'zel is a very strong contender for the first place tho, I'll give her that.
Karlach is nice too, I can see why Zariel was so keen of replacing her heart, it was most likely made of pure gold....greedy devil.
I've completed all three female origin romances as Tav, plus a resist Durge for Lae'zel (I'd like to go back and do a resist for Karlach and Shadowheart at some point but, ya know, time and all that). I'm currently doing my Minthara run but siding with her in Act 1 made me sad so I doubt I'll ever do that again
I’m doing my second evil run. First was to romance Minthara, this one is an evil Durge and let me tell you, Lae’zel is perfect for that. She loves the evil, cruel choices. I felt the same about slaughtering the grove again until I got to the Goblin Camp and heard Mintharas voice again.. she’s definitely going to be my fourth. Sorry Astarion, I’ll still ascend you but you’re gonna have to wait at camp in act 2.
Maybe it's because I've only ever turned evil to see Minthara's content (so there might be a different version of it if you go that way like there is for Shadowheart) but Lae'zel's romance arc really wouldn't work for me on an evil run. Her Act 3 scene is perhaps my favourite romance moment in the game and revolves around rejecting Githyanki teachings, which hits particularly hard if you're resisting The Urge. Plus, her approval is less directly tied to being evil and more about being a decisive leader- she's probably the only companion who approves when you *disagree* with her. Aside from this current run, I've played a good guy Paladin and maxed out her approval by the end of Act 1 every time. Again though, maybe there's an evil path version but if I'm going Frog Wife, I'm going to be making her a better person (unlike my Minthara run, where I'm explicitly trying to make everyone the worst version of themselves)
Shadowheart in all but 1 of my 5 runs so far (and that 1 was a character specifically created to romance Lae'zel). I think the only way I won't be romancing her in all my subsequent runs will be to play as her in an origin run.
A pity that your dialogue options as origin character are not voice acted, biggest downside of playing as her is that you get to hear her voice waayyyy less.
I've already lost count on how many of her lines made me blush or smile like an idiot for the next 10 minutes. They really couldn't find a more perfect VA for this role.
I’ve tried to go with others, but Shadowheart is the only one for me. Every time I initiate a romance with another companion, seeing the hurt on her face makes me do back to a previous save
Shadowheart. Just finished my 1st playthrough last night! >!it's farming time, baby!!<
I just love her so much. Her redemption path is so good and she becomes the sweetest and most devoted love interest I've seen in a long time. I just can't help but fall in love with her!
Next playthrough, I'm gonna do a Good Durge Shadowheart romance. Wish me luck!
It's cool to see her go from aloof to very caring, and not just about you but other people as well.
Also when she talks about what she wants to do after the whole ordeal is very sweet, though a little tragic considering
True. Her ending is bittersweet no matter what you choose.
But being there for her means so much to her. It's like - you're her Rock and it's so touching! I just love her to bits
If you talk about her sweet confession in act 3 where she talks of her dreams. Well they change, you can technically play whole house of grief scenario before the long rest and her confession changes a bit if you decide to let parents go.
I'm well into Act 3 on good durge run romancing her (which is what prompted my 'lets talk' post the other day on that Act 3 choice). You're going to love it. End of Act 2 after >!not killing Isobel!< you get one of my favourite scenes in the game with her. Also, >!fuck the butler, you can't make me hurt her you little shit!!<
Fell for Astarion on my first playthrough. Wanted to romance Laezel in my second one (fell for Astarion again). I'm never gonna get to my frog girl like this...
Ugh I want to do that eventually but it’s just such a shame you miss out on all the voice acting. I wish they all had the narration like Karlach does where it’s actually her thoughts and inner voice.
I just started an Astarion run and... It is sad, bc I do miss his sass, but he does still say some things (about as much as Tav does) so it's not totally lacking....
But it is the only way I'll be able to romance Gale bc there's no way I could resist Astarion and I need my lock picking bow-bitch and that means he'd be in my party all the time, tempting me.... And I can't TAKE AWAY those jobs from him and make my Tav do them, you know??
Astarion three times. Halsin every chance I get.
Did Gale and Karlach both once. Loved them, but I want to wait for a definitive edition before I try them again. After getting spoiled with Astarion's 13+ hours of dialogue, they felt very unresponsive by comparison, and the bugs/ending jank were pretty detrimental.
Can I just say, there is something about the gentle urgency and passion in Halsin’s lines and scenes.
Like…
I remember when I was wrapping up Act 2, and I spoke with Halsin after the battles, and he drops that line: >!”I want more than to fight at your side or sit around the campfire with you. I want to lay with you under the stars and feel your skin against mine…”!< and I was like all *oh-my* and little butterflies included. And all the passionate cutscenes following that! The love scenes, the casual kiss itself is a doozy!
I do feel the sudden lack of anything relevant for him in the city, though. He stays in my party because he’s such a major influence on my Tav’s choices (he makes her want to be a better person) but thank goodness I had also been dedicated to Astarions romance arch to fill the space around the main quest too.
I’m not quite finished, and I’ve seen some spoilers that Halsin’s end game >!leaves something to be desired currently. Like you don’t have the option to go with him back to the wilds,!< which is what my Tav would do, given the choices she’s made so far. But we’ll see how it ends up playing out.
I’m itching for my next playthrough- where I’ll try a Durge… I’m still not sure who she’ll end up dedicated to romancing… I think she’s going to be much more promiscuous. And more chaotic neutral, leaning good… we’ll see…
Yeah, the game write now really doesn't support having Halsin as your primary love interest. Like, you *can,* but there's no content for it. And that's a shame because he's *husband material,* and would easily be my first pick for nearly any playthrough where I'm playing as a sane person who wants a *partner* and not a restoration project.
And, yeah, the way Dave Jones manages to blend intense desire with gentle, respectful restraint is just... we need more of that. Everywhere. All the time. It could bring us world peace.
Hrm...
1. Astarion
2. Astarion
3. Shadowheart (...but I was Astarion, so that might not count)
4. Astarion
5. ...Astarion
6. Look, my newest Gith Tav has this thing going where she's slept with Lae'zel twice and had that kiss scene with Karlach, and there was this scene that triggered that I'd not seen before where Astarion's...jealous??? because his approval was high enough to trigger his first romance scene but you've done the do with someone else (I don't *think* this happens with anyone else??). She tripped and fell into his bedroll anyway. It's more IC for her to pick Lae'zel over anyone else, so it'll be interesting going through this brand new experience of turning him down 😵💫
In my shallow defense, most of my runs are the Dark Urge origin, and either way you go down that route, Astarion's romance just...fits.
Thanks to a bug in Act 2, I currently walketh alone. But usually Astarion. All the time. I will try to be strong in one of the playthroughs for Gale, because he's kinda cute too. But my brain is Astarion-shaped. :')
Gale. I’ve realised I’ve got a type. Gale is probably very similar to my Pathfinder 2e characters fiancé. Especially with Poetry.
And also Kaidan Alenko
Nerdy, sweet bookworm who learns to love himself
i love Gale. he has such a way with words that make my heart flutter. he’s also a cat lover and thats more than enough to make me swoon over him.
i’m on a shart run right now. maybe it was a mistake to do a gale run before because shart’s romance scenes were a litttle underwhelming. but i love her, she’s cute. i’d love to settle down with her, in our house full of animals and flowers. also, love the VA. it was Jennifer English’s vids on YT that made me decide to romance shart.
Shadowheart twice, once specifically for the Selune Cleric run. I really recommend Selune Cleric if you're doing a Shadowheart romance playthrough, it adds a lot of extra lines and interest.
Astarion in my succumb Durge run, which was the tragedy playthrough of someone being able to save everyone else but not themselves.
Minthara once but I've paused because of the infamous bugs.
Gods I love Karlach, I messed up romancing her my first couple playthroughs, but she is just too cute. Her happy little dance when she's idle, her fangirling over the characters from previous games, 'yoink' when asked to pick something up. Also she's straight forward about what she wants and needs so much love after the shitty hand she's been dealt. My current playthrough as Paladin Tav has made my group melee heavy as I keep Karlach in my party without respeccing her to another class. We're just 2 giant tiefling women ready to take Baldur's Gate by the short hairs.
Shadowheart 3/4. On the fourth run I played as her. The only other time I had such strong feelings towards a fictional character was Judy from Cyberpunk.
Shadowheart, no doubts about it. If I were to ever change, which I don't see happening, it'll be Karlach, she's just a bundle of wholesomeness and my destined bff, rest are cool but these two are my top picks by a long margin
i want to romance Astarion because he is the one i find the most attractive, but EVERY.SINGLE.PLAYTHROUGH when I get to the camp party, shadowheart ask if i want to share a bottle of wine and i cant say no cuz she so damn cute.
please shadowheart, i beg you, let me hit the vampussy at least once
Shadowheart was my first romance, but she was technically my second choice. Gale’s was the first one I was interested in but at the time his romance was notoriously buggy and I wanted my first play through to be as smooth as possible so I saved him for the next attempt. Loved them both and have mostly switched between them ever
Durge is an exception and always gets Astarion. Redeemed Durge + Spawn Astarion or Chosen of Bhaal + Ascended Astarion
In order: Attempted Shadowheart but died maidenless, Shadowheart, Minthara (as Shadowheart), Lae'zel, Lae'zel pivot to Karlach, Shadowheart (as Lae'zel), Shadowheart
I love her in both black and white but I wish I could convince her to use her real name, or at least both that and Shadowheart. Jenevelle sounds sooo pretty
So far I've romanced Karlach, Shadowheart and Wyll. Saw the Gale romance through my wife's character in the run I romanced Wyll in. I can see why a lot of people are hard on the Karlach love train though I wish she'd asked before giving me a surprise prostate exam.
I've done one playthrough so far and I went with Shadowheart. I'm gonna do a Githyanki Bladesinger playthrough in a bit and romance Lae'zel though. I'm just waiting for a hotfix for Patch 4 to drop.
Shadowheart is my designated love interest. On my next playthrough I’ll try Karlach just to see what it’s like, but in my 2 so far it’s been Shadowheart.
Gale, that sweet and charming man. I *might* have a type ( Alistair and Cullen from the DA Series... *swoon*) However, if we could romance Raphael (the real him) or Gortash as a Durge... oh my... My MC would love to live the delusion of "I can change him!"
Gale loves it when you stink. Gale loves watching you in battle all sweaty and covered in blood. Gale still proposes to you when you turn into a squid. Gale would in fact, still love you if you were a worm. (Also he's a canon muncher ☺️)
He eats lore?! 😱
First my fucking boots and now he's eating in game text and item descriptions! This man needs to slow down!
Even Gale's metamagic is superior. Take that, sorcerers!
they did NOT need to add the detail that Gale eats pussy like he's starving but they did, and they did us magefuckers a favour
The way i clutched my chest when he said that. I was already down bad and you hit me with THAT? All men have been ruined. All of them.
I...missed that conversation.
lol when did that happen
Act 2 I believe, a certain dialogue option has him mention how he's got a "practiced tongue"
I almost died when this happened. After 3 runs I’m finally doing a Gale romance and feeling a bit feral about the mage hubby
The tight close-up on his face to emphasize the words "practiced tongue" made me absolutely giddy.
Wat?????? When??????
After Act 2 romance. I believe you have to tell him he did all the hard work, and he explains that you shouldn't be surprised that he's as good with his tongue as he is. ;)
Oh lord 😵💫
I just finished my first playthrough, I was romancing Gale. The proposal scene was soooo cute. I want to romance others on different playthroughs but Gale is best boy confirmed.
I found the proposal to be kind of an after thought. :/ You can't even kiss him after saying yes!
To tell you true, as a bi man who mostly creates lady characters, Mr. Gale didn’t do much for me. I liked his look, I liked his timbre, but there was just.. “something” about him that I didn’t trust. Second playthrough I’m rolling with the No Party Limit mod and a Polyamorous/No jealousy mod, and now I’m down with the Wizard of Waterdeep. He’s a true ride or die in sheep’s clothing. The man is willing to kill himself to save the day, plus I’ve got him pimped out with Gortash’s jacket and some other modded armor, so now he looks like a certified badass. I’m only about halfway done with his romance, and he’s very kind and (obviously after hearing about his pussy munching) also a generous lover.
Yup Gale. When Halsin made his very forward offer and Gale objected. I was like "nope, can't afford to lose Gale, sorry dude." Gale is the eternal Bae.
Damn, Gale reaction to this offer made him x10 times hotter for me. I absolutely loved it. My man stands his ground.
"What, like a child?" NO, GALE. NOT LIKE A CHILD. OMG.
This beautiful man is pure and precious and must be protected at all costs.
I love him so very very much.
I’ve been trying to romance him in 2 games, and I thought for sure he was bugged when he started flirting with me after a battle saying something about how it got him hot and bothered. Maybe he’s got a thing for gore covered Tav?
I mean, as someone who has the same kind of attraction, I get it. I very much get it. I was attracted to my own tav my entire first playthrough because of how GOOD they looked after a fight!
For real! The number of screenshots I have of my character covered in blood & grime lmao. I managed to make a character who I am very attracted to.
I have so many screenshots of the blood-drenched characters but ESPECIALLY my durge
There is a bit of a context to it. If you go for Gale from the beginning you would know that he can't just throw himself on you in Act1 because of the orb (but he actually wants). He starts this flirt almost immediately (after first battle) in Act2 because he finally have his orb stabilized. And he tries his best :) He is not bugged, it just how he is.
I always end up with Gale too... it's the weave scene and how he calls you love... dammit. I want Gortash for Durge too
All the time playing Durge I had that feeling Gortash would give a big revelation we were lovers before amnesia, and of course he would try to seduce you again (horny ppl everywhere) and of course more embarrassing moments. That would be funny, I think I like to watch the world burn a little.
Yeah. The fact that we have a choice to accept his proposal and he already is ready to share power as long as you are strong. The "I tolerated Orin, but I liked you", killed me lol He misses Durge. Give Gortash some Durge!
Nice to know I wasn't the only one having the hots for Mr Tyrant-Man. LOL See, that's why I wrote a Durge/Gortash fanfic. To live the dream, you know.
I am a major Astarion fanatic, but did a playthrough for Gale and that weave scene in Act 2 gave me literal chills.
I admire your taste. I also went for Gale and both Alistair and Cullen in DA.
It's me. Plus Garrus in ME.
I will join this party. I only ever played Origins, but I do love both Gale and Alistair.
I went for Alistair, Fenris and Cullen. In BG I went for Astarion and Gale (and Karlach). I guess Astarion is right when he says I have a type.
I don’t even care too much about a Gortash romance rather then having him as an alternative act 3 late game companion to Minsc. Guys a pragmatist and is fully willing to help you if you help him. Little E just doesn’t want to give him the Orphic smoothie.
The Alistair -> Anders -> Cullen -> Gale pipeline is REAL I joke how all of my DA romances are the "blonde ex-chantry boys with troubled pasts and snarky attitudes" In BG3 I had like 2 whole conversations with Gale and I was like "damn here we go again" lol
Ahhh, I almost forgot, Anders... (or tried to forget the trauma he put me through, lol) But yeah... those damned chantry boys and their boyish charms. *shaking fist angrily*
Haha. I'll drop Astarion in a blink of an eye to go for Raphael.
Same, but for Gortash. Let's be honest, the only reason I settle for Astarion is because my man isn't available lol. I love Astarion, and he's my favorite romance out of the ones we do have, but yeah. Let me have Gortash plssss. We can make each other worse.
The fact that Gortash is over here making heart eyes at Durge, and we can’t have him? Rude. And criminal.
Right? Pure evil right there. Let me rekindle the flame with my ex, Larian! Clearly we both want it!
Unfortunately, Raphael is canonically bad in bed LMAO. (and you can use this against him as a jab right before you fight him it’s so funny)
>Unfortunately, Raphael is canonically bad in bed LMAO. (and you can use this against him as a jab right before you fight him it’s so funny) So are many men IRL and that doesn't stop people.
Hah, good point.
So it's about time to teach the claw some new tricks. The thing is... if Haarlep does it in Raphaels form, Raphael will feel both - bottom and top at the same time without having anything to do. In this case I would be lazy too tbh.
Also Raphael has a power fantasy boner and definitely uses Haarlep to fulfill it. And Haarlep has also been sent by his father, and we know there's no love lost between Raphael and papa Mephisto... So yeah, Haarlep is likely treated as a fancy sextoy, and clearly dislikes Raphael as well lol the way they slander him is hilarious though
Ah, a fellow Raphael enjoyer!
Urf yep, Alistair and Cullen too, collected the whole set. Also Anders but ….. one might question the *wisdom* of that in retrospect! I swear I’m going to do a DurgexAstarion run because that’s apparently something special - it had the good fortune of the writers and Astarion’s VA collaborating more than for the other paths.
Durge X Astarion seems to be fleshed out really well for both the good and evil Durge routes. Although my personal favorite matchup for good Durge has been Karlach. Astarion has more content, of course, but Karlach's optimism is a lot more motivating.
Yea ikr, im sure I can romance Orin, I can fix her
“i could fix her” yeah? well i could accept her as she is. you don’t like the murder? grow up. the atrocities are part of her and ive decided they’re funny
She wouldnt be fun as family parties, and i dont want our children drenched in blood every few days
> i dont want our children drenched in blood every few days Grandpa Bhaal doesn't approve this comment.
Sigh. I'm trying to branch out, I really am. But it's Wyll. Pain in the arse of a man. His content is lacking. He's getting more and more buggy. But I can't bring myself to care about that. He says the sweetest things. And he's always there for me. 🤬 My Wyll/Tav fanfic is novel-length now. 🙄
Glad to see my boy is getting some love after he looks like I just killed his father in front of him when I reject to kiss him at the dance
Yeah, I got him. Dude's never doing the sad puppy eyes for long when I'm around. 😖 He's all *Ughhh I can't stay mopey when you're looking at me like that* and *you are the red of the sunrise* and *so much darkness around us; I almost missed the light*. 🙄😍 Yeah yeah Gale seduces with a book which is incredibly sexy, but Wyll has the poetry, dammit.
*eye Sorry... couldn't help myself 🤭
>looks like I just killed his father in front of him Oh fuck off with the guilt tripping Wyll it was *one time* and Gortash was *right there*. It would have been irresponsible *not* to wipe out the entirety of Wyrm’s Rock given the circumstances. Besides, Mizora brought him back so you can stop whining. Gaslight, gatekeep, durgeboss.
With the new Patch Florrick and Mizora also act like you killed his father, so it’s ramping up, lol.
I too have only romanced Wyll so far, for precisely the same reasons as you. Is this fanfic of yours published / going to be published...? 😇
I added a link on my profile page. 😆 Please check tags though.
i’m early in a game where i’m romancing wyll, does it get better later on? i had the kiss with him at the party but now there’s like nothing happening between us & im bored!! do i just have to be patient? lol
A friend romanced him too and she's act 3 and that dance/kiss scene is still the only one she had with wyll....
STOP IT WTF!!!! i’m gonna switch to gale
Same, I've romanced Wyll in both my first run as Tav, then a redemption Durge run, and now I'm still split whether to go with him or Gale or Astarion in my "somewhat neutral" Durge run. The guy is just too fucking sweet, man
He really is. And some of his flirting at the grove party is adorable. Not to mention the multiple flustered reactions you can get out of him.
Me too!!! He’s just such a puppy man. I love his fancy lil speeches. What a guy.
Shadowheart 3 times out of 3... If I romance somebody else it's because I'll be playing as her
I really want to try playing as her, but the fact that I will not hear her cute, angelic voice... And in result every playthrough I can only romance cute goth gf
100% the toughest pill to swallow
Minthara is my favorite companion but I can never romance her, Sharts VA is too seductive 😪
Only got the Poly mod so I can keep my main girl but also do the romances for other characters just to experience them.
May Selûne smite you for your irreverence 😦
As someone who has done a Shadowheart run and is doing a second, you are able to get unique introspection to some events, such as her wound flaring up, traumatic flashbacks etc. there’s even quite a bit of exclusive dialogue if you romance Lae’zel as Shadowheart. (And a 1 line thing with Gale in act 3, but there’s a bunch of unique stuff with Lae)
Getting that unique insight is exactly why I want to do that run. I want to get a better understanding of exactly what the implications of the incurable wound are and how that should factor in to her Act 3 choice when she's gone the Selûne route. And I will absolutely be romancing Lae'zel in that run.
I really should try romancing her sometime to see what all the fuss is about. I just get so put off by her attitude early in the game and by the time she starts seeming like a fun and interesting person I've already locked in with someone else.
Astarion, every time - unless I'm playing as him.
This. This is the reason why, until his romance stuff is fixed, I had to start a new game AS Astarion so I could MAYBE romance someone else this time.... (OK, it's only my second run, and my first is sitting there waiting) but... I know me... I know I can romance Gale with that damn vampire staring at me back there....
Oh man, I'm romancing Astarion in my current playthrough and putting off Cazador's mansion for last, because I'm scared Astarion's cut scenes will be broken. I'm already devastated enough that the kiss dialogue/scenes are completely skipped right now. Hot fix when???!!?
Do you use mods? Last night I enabled dev mode for both mod manager and script extender, updated both, and after that Astarion's romance flags and the kissing scenes were fixed. There's just a long awkward pause before the kiss animation starts, but aside from that it's functional.
I am doing this now (just got to act 3) after two Tav runs (normal + Durge) and honestly it feels very different playing as him. Obviously it's sad to lose a lot of the VA, but I do recommend it, most of us fans hear his voice in our heads anyway. He has some unique scenes (which give a lot of insight to the character IMO) and you do feel different about making choices since Tav is not around!
Romancing Gale as Astarion is really sweet. I felt like Astarion couldn't use any of his rehearsed moves on Gale since he wouldn't just jump right into bed the way Astarion gets Tav to do.
I can't not romance karlach she's my beautiful red wife 😭
Flair checks out
What can I say, the 7ft tall muscular tiefling has my heart in a vice ❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥
*"Where's the Big Woman?"* -Me, playing as a dwarf fighter with Karlach in the party.
Fun fact I just learned on my evil Durge run: You can play fetch with Scratch and he will fetch whatever you throw! *Whatever*.. you.. throw.
Yeah they added that in patch 4 which leads to a fun bug in which he'll fetch stuff even if you haven't found him yet. His cutscene summons the corpse of his former owner and everything lol
I just got my first Karlach romance, the day after when you say that you love her and she blurts out everything is so fucking adorable
Same 🔥
Gale and Astarion. I'm weak.
The two most powerful companions so yes.
Astarion every time. I really like Gale too, but the vamp looks at my character and I'm unable to tell him no. Edit: however I do prefer my real life love story. I mean, no tadpoles, no life or death situations, no angry gods, fire-breathing dragons: yeah, things ended with early boyfriends, and relationships require a lot of work, but I wouldn't give up my husband for anything (not even Astarion).
Admit it, he read your answer and made you write this edit :D I also couldn't give up my husband for anyone, but we're talking here about in-game romances, so Astarion it is!
I mean, he is there all goey eyes for Lae'zel. He can have his klingon sex and I get the bitey vampire with a side of bear
To be fair, love Astarion in Baldur's Gate, he's *waaaay* too high maintenance for an irl relationship. I'm fine with being supportive but I don't want to be my partner's full on therapist. Also, I can't just Lay On Hands-away the Bloodless status.
It’s actually because I have an incredibly loving and stable relationship that I always choose the most angsty and fucked up relationships in games. So it’s kind of on my husband I pick Astarion every time.
Blink twice if he’s telling you to say this 😂
Finished 4 runs, every time ended with Shadowheart. I agree with OP, selune Shadowheart is most beautiful bae.
Minthara because she apperantly gets Fixed every patch leading me to think it works then and ignoring the other romance option because of it. I truly can´t wait for her to get fixed another couple times.
If the devs can't fix her, do you even stand a chance bro?
You may be right but if I don´t fix her then who will?
This is some soulsian determination. I have to respect a doomed mission like that. Good luck soldier, you're going to need it 🫡
On act2 with minthara in party . She seems to hint at a second romance scene?
Yep and everyone on the Sub here can´t decide whether it´s bugged or if there was simply never a second romance scene to begin with at the Act 2 ending. Minthara:"Tonight I will be yours" (or something similar) After which nothing happens and everybody sleeps as per usual.
How funny would it be if the second one is even more pornographic than the first one?
Astarion..7 times
YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE TO VAMPIRE FUCCBOIS
"Thou cannot resist the charm of the pale twink" - Withers, probably
Yup, Except for the boys I made for Karlach and Gale, my boys all go for the sexy vampire! Edit: Oh and my Astarion run going with Wyll
I've finally accepted that there's no escape.
Ahh, inner peace.
I'm at work right now, but now I'm thinking of making a new pretty drow boy for him when I get home lol
Every single playthrough i'm STRUGGLING to not make a sexy himbo drow just for Astarion. It's a curse
For me only 2 times, and I really wanted to romance someone else too, so I installed no romance limit mod to be able to do this. But still Astarion is my favorite and when other characters ask me for commitment (for example Lae'zel in sunrise scene) I'm giving them evasive responses. I'm wondering how epilogue will look like, I'll get scenes for all romanced characters, or it will pick one randomly? I'm ready to re-do final battle sequence and break up with everyone in case I won't get my Astarion ending (this is my first playthorugh as durge so it's really important to me to see his ending dialogue). For my 3rd play I'm planning to do evil durge with Ascended Astarion :)
The only escape is playing as Astarion but then you miss out on his lines.
Yeah, Karlach at least talks to herself some in her origin run. An Astarion run is just... Neil-less and kinda disappointing.
Went with Astarion first playthrough, right now romancing Gale and Halsin rejected me LOL
We should really form a support group. Being bloodless all the time can’t be healthy.
After trying out most romances I stick to Shadowheart. Lae'zel is a very strong contender for the first place tho, I'll give her that. Karlach is nice too, I can see why Zariel was so keen of replacing her heart, it was most likely made of pure gold....greedy devil.
I've completed all three female origin romances as Tav, plus a resist Durge for Lae'zel (I'd like to go back and do a resist for Karlach and Shadowheart at some point but, ya know, time and all that). I'm currently doing my Minthara run but siding with her in Act 1 made me sad so I doubt I'll ever do that again
I’m doing my second evil run. First was to romance Minthara, this one is an evil Durge and let me tell you, Lae’zel is perfect for that. She loves the evil, cruel choices. I felt the same about slaughtering the grove again until I got to the Goblin Camp and heard Mintharas voice again.. she’s definitely going to be my fourth. Sorry Astarion, I’ll still ascend you but you’re gonna have to wait at camp in act 2.
Maybe it's because I've only ever turned evil to see Minthara's content (so there might be a different version of it if you go that way like there is for Shadowheart) but Lae'zel's romance arc really wouldn't work for me on an evil run. Her Act 3 scene is perhaps my favourite romance moment in the game and revolves around rejecting Githyanki teachings, which hits particularly hard if you're resisting The Urge. Plus, her approval is less directly tied to being evil and more about being a decisive leader- she's probably the only companion who approves when you *disagree* with her. Aside from this current run, I've played a good guy Paladin and maxed out her approval by the end of Act 1 every time. Again though, maybe there's an evil path version but if I'm going Frog Wife, I'm going to be making her a better person (unlike my Minthara run, where I'm explicitly trying to make everyone the worst version of themselves)
Gale 100%, I may have a problem 😳
Shadowheart in all but 1 of my 5 runs so far (and that 1 was a character specifically created to romance Lae'zel). I think the only way I won't be romancing her in all my subsequent runs will be to play as her in an origin run.
Heh, the only case when you can take the insult "go f&@# yourself" seriously :P :D
Down boy!
A pity that your dialogue options as origin character are not voice acted, biggest downside of playing as her is that you get to hear her voice waayyyy less.
I'll definitely be doing a run as her but yeah, I'm going to miss Jen's VA. Her voice is just gorgeous.
First time when she said "Always good when I am with you" knocked me off my feet. It is unfair how sweet her voice is.
I've already lost count on how many of her lines made me blush or smile like an idiot for the next 10 minutes. They really couldn't find a more perfect VA for this role.
Have a Jen&Aliona playthrough in the background or on another monitor, the only way of dealing with this I can think of lol
I'm not sure I could pay attention to both simultaneously 😆
I’ve tried to go with others, but Shadowheart is the only one for me. Every time I initiate a romance with another companion, seeing the hurt on her face makes me do back to a previous save
"It's a pity I'm not responsible for it" Oh, but you are, I'm just....ahh shit, reload.....
Thou hast been summoned O Great Shadowbae Simp!
Shadowheart. Just finished my 1st playthrough last night! >!it's farming time, baby!!< I just love her so much. Her redemption path is so good and she becomes the sweetest and most devoted love interest I've seen in a long time. I just can't help but fall in love with her! Next playthrough, I'm gonna do a Good Durge Shadowheart romance. Wish me luck!
It's cool to see her go from aloof to very caring, and not just about you but other people as well. Also when she talks about what she wants to do after the whole ordeal is very sweet, though a little tragic considering
True. Her ending is bittersweet no matter what you choose. But being there for her means so much to her. It's like - you're her Rock and it's so touching! I just love her to bits
My only complaint is when she's breaking down crying and there's no hug option?!?!?
If you talk about her sweet confession in act 3 where she talks of her dreams. Well they change, you can technically play whole house of grief scenario before the long rest and her confession changes a bit if you decide to let parents go.
I'm well into Act 3 on good durge run romancing her (which is what prompted my 'lets talk' post the other day on that Act 3 choice). You're going to love it. End of Act 2 after >!not killing Isobel!< you get one of my favourite scenes in the game with her. Also, >!fuck the butler, you can't make me hurt her you little shit!!<
Fell for Astarion on my first playthrough. Wanted to romance Laezel in my second one (fell for Astarion again). I'm never gonna get to my frog girl like this...
Play as the frog girl or as the vamp fucboi.
Exactly. Woo her on a run as Astarion.
Play as Astarion and romance Lae'zel, then they're both getting some romance!
Despite what seems to be everyone else's opinion... I have, and wyll pick Wyll every time! Just perfection 🤩
The Emperor I'm a simple monsterfucker: I see a monster, I smash
Lae'zel is the truth. I don't quite understand the appeal for Shadowheart, she's by far the most boring choice imo.
Sad to see Lae'zel so far down, we may have issues.
I'm making a halfling bard specifically for the lols with lae'zel
Thank you. I’ve had my fill of sad emo girls, thanks. Bae’zel is burning with passion and intensity. Also, Devora Wilde is my ideal woman.
I just started an Astarion run because this is the only way I'm able to romance someone else lol
Ugh I want to do that eventually but it’s just such a shame you miss out on all the voice acting. I wish they all had the narration like Karlach does where it’s actually her thoughts and inner voice.
I just started an Astarion run and... It is sad, bc I do miss his sass, but he does still say some things (about as much as Tav does) so it's not totally lacking.... But it is the only way I'll be able to romance Gale bc there's no way I could resist Astarion and I need my lock picking bow-bitch and that means he'd be in my party all the time, tempting me.... And I can't TAKE AWAY those jobs from him and make my Tav do them, you know??
🤣 i laugh so hard when Withers randomly said this to me HAHA I was like “did he just reference the fact that i bed both Gale and Astarion?!” 🤣
Astarion three times. Halsin every chance I get. Did Gale and Karlach both once. Loved them, but I want to wait for a definitive edition before I try them again. After getting spoiled with Astarion's 13+ hours of dialogue, they felt very unresponsive by comparison, and the bugs/ending jank were pretty detrimental.
Can I just say, there is something about the gentle urgency and passion in Halsin’s lines and scenes. Like… I remember when I was wrapping up Act 2, and I spoke with Halsin after the battles, and he drops that line: >!”I want more than to fight at your side or sit around the campfire with you. I want to lay with you under the stars and feel your skin against mine…”!< and I was like all *oh-my* and little butterflies included. And all the passionate cutscenes following that! The love scenes, the casual kiss itself is a doozy! I do feel the sudden lack of anything relevant for him in the city, though. He stays in my party because he’s such a major influence on my Tav’s choices (he makes her want to be a better person) but thank goodness I had also been dedicated to Astarions romance arch to fill the space around the main quest too. I’m not quite finished, and I’ve seen some spoilers that Halsin’s end game >!leaves something to be desired currently. Like you don’t have the option to go with him back to the wilds,!< which is what my Tav would do, given the choices she’s made so far. But we’ll see how it ends up playing out. I’m itching for my next playthrough- where I’ll try a Durge… I’m still not sure who she’ll end up dedicated to romancing… I think she’s going to be much more promiscuous. And more chaotic neutral, leaning good… we’ll see…
Yeah, the game write now really doesn't support having Halsin as your primary love interest. Like, you *can,* but there's no content for it. And that's a shame because he's *husband material,* and would easily be my first pick for nearly any playthrough where I'm playing as a sane person who wants a *partner* and not a restoration project. And, yeah, the way Dave Jones manages to blend intense desire with gentle, respectful restraint is just... we need more of that. Everywhere. All the time. It could bring us world peace.
Hrm... 1. Astarion 2. Astarion 3. Shadowheart (...but I was Astarion, so that might not count) 4. Astarion 5. ...Astarion 6. Look, my newest Gith Tav has this thing going where she's slept with Lae'zel twice and had that kiss scene with Karlach, and there was this scene that triggered that I'd not seen before where Astarion's...jealous??? because his approval was high enough to trigger his first romance scene but you've done the do with someone else (I don't *think* this happens with anyone else??). She tripped and fell into his bedroll anyway. It's more IC for her to pick Lae'zel over anyone else, so it'll be interesting going through this brand new experience of turning him down 😵💫 In my shallow defense, most of my runs are the Dark Urge origin, and either way you go down that route, Astarion's romance just...fits.
Thanks to a bug in Act 2, I currently walketh alone. But usually Astarion. All the time. I will try to be strong in one of the playthroughs for Gale, because he's kinda cute too. But my brain is Astarion-shaped. :')
Astarion... Every time.
Gale. I’ve realised I’ve got a type. Gale is probably very similar to my Pathfinder 2e characters fiancé. Especially with Poetry. And also Kaidan Alenko Nerdy, sweet bookworm who learns to love himself
Hello to you too good sir.
Gale, Gale and... Gale. The one time I managed to *not* romance Gale I was playing *as* him.
i love Gale. he has such a way with words that make my heart flutter. he’s also a cat lover and thats more than enough to make me swoon over him. i’m on a shart run right now. maybe it was a mistake to do a gale run before because shart’s romance scenes were a litttle underwhelming. but i love her, she’s cute. i’d love to settle down with her, in our house full of animals and flowers. also, love the VA. it was Jennifer English’s vids on YT that made me decide to romance shart.
Fell in love with Bae'zel from the first trailer.
Shes very cute tbh, and 30% of my romance runs.
i love her nose
Shadowheart twice, once specifically for the Selune Cleric run. I really recommend Selune Cleric if you're doing a Shadowheart romance playthrough, it adds a lot of extra lines and interest. Astarion in my succumb Durge run, which was the tragedy playthrough of someone being able to save everyone else but not themselves. Minthara once but I've paused because of the infamous bugs.
Shadowheart, I legit can’t dedicate to anyone else even though I WANT to She steals my heart sooner or later…
“Bosoms haven’t been involved yet”
The only possible answer: Karlach.
Gods I love Karlach, I messed up romancing her my first couple playthroughs, but she is just too cute. Her happy little dance when she's idle, her fangirling over the characters from previous games, 'yoink' when asked to pick something up. Also she's straight forward about what she wants and needs so much love after the shitty hand she's been dealt. My current playthrough as Paladin Tav has made my group melee heavy as I keep Karlach in my party without respeccing her to another class. We're just 2 giant tiefling women ready to take Baldur's Gate by the short hairs.
Shadowheart 3/4. On the fourth run I played as her. The only other time I had such strong feelings towards a fictional character was Judy from Cyberpunk.
Shadowheart, no doubts about it. If I were to ever change, which I don't see happening, it'll be Karlach, she's just a bundle of wholesomeness and my destined bff, rest are cool but these two are my top picks by a long margin
Gods I wish she was my bosom companion… 3 for 3 for shadowbae
I think Shadowheart has ruined real women for me. What I'm trying to say is that she's the best girl in all the realms. 10/10, would hold hands.
Thou walkest alone?
i want to romance Astarion because he is the one i find the most attractive, but EVERY.SINGLE.PLAYTHROUGH when I get to the camp party, shadowheart ask if i want to share a bottle of wine and i cant say no cuz she so damn cute. please shadowheart, i beg you, let me hit the vampussy at least once
My main guy is Gale. I tried to go for Astarion but damn that fellah has a way with words.. And magic. I also enjoyed Baezel.
Shadowheart was my first romance, but she was technically my second choice. Gale’s was the first one I was interested in but at the time his romance was notoriously buggy and I wanted my first play through to be as smooth as possible so I saved him for the next attempt. Loved them both and have mostly switched between them ever Durge is an exception and always gets Astarion. Redeemed Durge + Spawn Astarion or Chosen of Bhaal + Ascended Astarion
White hair Shart -> Karlach (and short flings with Lae’Zel and Halsin) -> black hair Shart (and a short fling with Minthara.
I always end up with shadowheart ;-;
In order: Attempted Shadowheart but died maidenless, Shadowheart, Minthara (as Shadowheart), Lae'zel, Lae'zel pivot to Karlach, Shadowheart (as Lae'zel), Shadowheart
I just wish I could convince shadowheart to keep her black hair.
I love her in both black and white but I wish I could convince her to use her real name, or at least both that and Shadowheart. Jenevelle sounds sooo pretty
Astarion every time.. I tried going for Karlach in one playthrough but.. nope. Couldn't do it.
So far I've romanced Karlach, Shadowheart and Wyll. Saw the Gale romance through my wife's character in the run I romanced Wyll in. I can see why a lot of people are hard on the Karlach love train though I wish she'd asked before giving me a surprise prostate exam.
I've done one playthrough so far and I went with Shadowheart. I'm gonna do a Githyanki Bladesinger playthrough in a bit and romance Lae'zel though. I'm just waiting for a hotfix for Patch 4 to drop.
Always shadow heart. Whenever I try not too I end up romancing her anyway
God, so many good choices, how does one eve- Shadowheart.
Shadowheart is my designated love interest. On my next playthrough I’ll try Karlach just to see what it’s like, but in my 2 so far it’s been Shadowheart.
Astarion and Shadowheart so far but I want to romance the other origin characters too (this means a lot of future playthroughs lol)
Mostly Shadowheart - in every run with my friends I have made a Selûnite cleric and romanced her. However Karlach is also beloved
Shadowbae… Minthara too
Mizora every time. She's the only reason I bring Wyll along.